Pillars of Eternity: Collector’s Edition

Details

Play as any one of six races: Human, Aumaua, Dwarf, Elf, Godlike and Orlan.
Utilize five core skills to overcome any situation: Stealth, Athletics, Lore, Mechanics and Survival.
Deep character customization: Build a character as one of eleven classes such as Barbarian, Chanter, Cipher, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Priest, Ranger, Rogue and Wizard.
Sculpt your own story: Side with various factions using a reputation system, where your actions and choices have far reaching consequences.
Explore a rich and diverse world: Beautiful pre-rendered environments laced with an engaging story and characters bring the world to life.

Back in late October, I started re-playing the original Pillars of Eternity with the intention of beating it. I did technically “rolled credits”, but it wasn’t an ending that I wanted. So I restarted the game to beat it properly, because I was going to skip over Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Originally excited for the game, but after seeing all the negative reviews, I’ve decided to not play it at all.

To be fair, not all the reviews were negative. All the positive reviews are from people who weren’t fans or didn’t play previous Dragon Age games. All the original Dragon Age fans absolutely hated The Veilguard. They said it’s an OK game, but it’s doesn’t deserve the Dragon Age name.

Anyway, back to Pillars of Eternity, you might remember that I first bought the game in March 2015, and did put in some hours into the game. I got to the third (and final) act of the game, but for whatever reason, I never finished the game. I think, perhaps, I got stuck and didn’t know where to go next.

Continuing the game save that I started in 2015 was not possible, because I have very poor memory and didn’t know what was going on. So, I had to restart the game with a new character build.

I have to say that the game aged very well. It’s still a very good game, especially because the graphics look so good! I put in another 40 hours and now I’m starting Act III, about the same spot where I left off in my original game. This time, however, I also bought the two expansions: The Winter March I and II, so before I finish the game, I will start the Winter March.

Also, I wasn’t one of the Kickstarter that helped launch Pillars of Eternity, but I did end up buying a used copy of Collector’s Edition (this was only available to backers). The big box didn’t really have anything that amazing: a DVD of the game, a “cloth” map, an instruction manual, and an apology letter from the developers saying the DVD will be sent later. I did research and found out that I was missing a thank you postcard, a patch, a mousepad, and a guidebook. I didn’t really mind it, because I only paid $25 for the Collector’s Box. I might try and track down that guidebook later.

Anyway, I stopped playing Pillars when I came down to Jacksonville, simply because my save files are on my desktop computer in Minneapolis, because I was playing it on Xbox App. I’ve already put in 112 hours into the game, I feel like I’ve beaten the game, my character is God-like… I think I can put a pin in it and can rate the game highly recommended for fans of top-down role-playing games.

I will started playing Pillars of Eternity 2 soon-ish.

P.S. GOG, for some reason, is not tracking my achievements for Pillars of Eternity for the GOG version.